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What Is Anthropology?

Anthropology is defined as the study of humankind and their behavior. Anthropologists conduct scientific and humanistic studies of the culture and evolution of humans. Anthropology is traditionally broken down into four sub-fields: Biological anthropology, Archaeology, Linguistic anthropology, and Cultural anthropology. There is also a fifth sub-field, Applied anthropology. Each of these branches has its own skills, theories, and knowledge of studying humanity.

Biological anthropology studies the human body. They look at humans as a species, tracing back their origin, evolutionary development, and genetic make-up. Biological anthropology is a way of fully understanding how humans adapt to its natural environments.

The second sub-field of anthropology is archaeology. Archaeology is defined as the study of material remains such as fossils, religious figurines, vessels, pictographs, artifacts, relics, cave paintings, and monuments of past human life and activities. These material remains help us interpret and reassemble cultures that lived long ago and their ways of life.

The look at the history, evolution, and inner structure of human languages is linguistic anthropology. Linguistic anthropology studies links between different societies and explores how humans communicate and reason with one another. It also allows us to explore the connection between language, the mind, and behavior. Language is vital to obtaining information and knowledge, and it is the language that the culture itself depends on.

The fourth sub-field of anthropology is cultural anthropology; the largest branch. Cultural anthropology deals with human cultures with respect to social structure, language, law, art, politics, religion, and other ways of life. Cultural anthropology seeks to understand the logics of another society and helps outsiders make sense of behaviors that may seem senseless and bizarre. It also helps us avoid ethnocentrisms, and allows us to see...

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SDCCD
Test #2
1. What are the major trends in hominin evolution?
Major Trends in Hominin Evolution are diet, cultural evolution, encephalization, language and speech Diet; In addition to forcing changes in locomotion that led to walking upright, the increasingly dry climate of east Africa over the last six million years forced changes in the diet of early hominins from the soft fruits of the tropical rain forest to the increasingly fibrous and tough foods available in open habitats.Early hominin diets are reconstructed partly based on the surface areas of the molars and the cross-sectional area of the body of the lower jaw (Collard & Wood 1999). Tooth area reveals the efficiency of food processing; whereas, the mandibular body size reflects the amount of force applied during processing. Humans are omnivores that favor nuts, fruit and meat. The chimpanzee diet is not
much different from that of humans except in a greater emphasis on fruit, stems and leaves and less on meat. Chimpanzees do not differ particularly from modern humans in the efficiency and force of their dentition. However, only H. ergaster of the early hominins shared these dental dimensions with us. Australopithecines and the robust Paranthropus species, in particular, required more area for processing and more robust jaws. Paranthropus species especially...

...ANTH 1002: Introducing Anthropology
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1. What is naturalisation?
· Social stratification or inequality is invariably maintained by a process which anthropologists (and others) term naturalisation. By naturalisation we mean that hierarchy comes to be seen as ‘natural’ and therefore as being beyond question.
· In other words, naturalisation results in inequality being seen as emanating from something outside society or social/political processes. Naturalisation leads the members of a society to accept the stratification/inequalities found there, and even to feel that those inequalities reflect the way things ought to be. Consequently, some people have argued that naturalisation serves to justify inequality and so to maintain it.
· Different cultures naturalise hierarchy in different ways, according to their own sets of beliefs and understandings. In Gerai, hierarchy is naturalised in terms of the concept of predestination: some households are said to have more wealth and status than others because it is predestined to be so. In Western societies hierarchy is commonly naturalised in terms of biology or genetics: people are said to be more successful than others because of certain biological/genetic attributes which they are seen to possess. ‘Intelligence’ is perhaps the most important of these; others include ‘drive’, ‘ambition’ and ‘perseverance’.
· The concept ...

...Brtiney Fields
November 25, 2013
Professor Hoag
Anthropology 1010
THE MEXICAN AMERICANS OF SOUTH TEXAS
According to Webster’s dictionary religion is defined as “a belief and worship of God or gods; a specific system of belief, worship, etc. often involving a code of ethics.” Religion is important to Mexican Americans. “The majority of Mexican Americans are Catholic but their interpretations of Catholicism vary with class and education.” Religion played a part in moral, ethical and political decisions of various groups and societies.
The Mexican Americans of South Texas were Catholic. Most believed in the Spanish Indian beliefs but were despaired of the priests. The priests were respected by the people and were well educated but didn’t understand everything. Women followed the priest and respected the priest more than men did. Men had more of a status in order to attend, thanking the church and giving back because of it. Praying to shrines brought success and gifts their followers and businesses, if they listened and gave offerings. The Mexicans also pray to different shrines for help and to find jobs, pay bills, protect travels, and passing school courses. Some who didn’t believe in the Catholic religion were called Protestants and believed there are only saints or sinners.
Catholicism that is practiced by the Mexican Americans of South Texas is not that different from the rest of the United States....

...Nathanael Fires
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Cultural Anthropology
5/15/15
Essay #2
Cultural anthropologists main job is to study different cultures all over the world and then
to compare the similarities and differences to their own culture or other cultures. This is typically
done by that anthropologist going and living with that cultural group for an extended period of
time so they can learn everything there is to that particular culture. While they are there, they
learn about everything that they can, from the religion to how food and goods are obtained. In a
cultural anthropology class, the students are exposed to these cultures and study the differences
and similarities that are present in different cultures. By studying different cultures, the
perspective of the world and the awareness of other cultures can be broadened. However, there
are people out there who have not been exposed to other cultures and in a sense, are naive to the
world around them. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, there is a great probability that not
being aware of other cultures can have a negative affect on a persons career or way of life.
Someone who is considered ethnocentric judges other cultures based on their own beliefs
and culture. Typically, they believe that their way of doing things, is the right way. The phrase
“my way or the highway” is a phrase that fits these types of people extremely well. In the
business world, these people might act very confident and...

...﻿Authenticity in Anthropology
As many may agree the term authenticity is often referred to something that is “real,” “genuine,” and “true”. Authenticity is determined within all sorts of aspects ranging from art work in museums, literature, art performances, music and many more. In the Oxford English Dictionary authenticity is defined as “possessing original or inherent authority,” and, connected to this, “acting of itself, self-originated.” There are two types of authenticity discussed in our class which helps establish the meaning of authenticity more comprehensively. They are called nominal authenticity and expressive authenticity.
Nominal authenticity elaborates on the correct identification of the origins, authorship, or provenance of an object, as well as an object of aesthetic experience being properly named. For example a well- known painting imitated and made by another artist than the original artist lacks the nominal authenticity because it has deficiencies of the correct identification. The artist stealing the original artist’s idea and attempted to take their ownership of what they had created is also considered forgery.
Issues arising in regards to nominal authenticity are also very common among the music industry. Many times, some artist will take other artists music and make it their own. It may simply be the chorus of their song or the melody of the song. Often times, the original artist takes upon legal action and...

...﻿Forensic Anthropology Media Observation
It’s been many weeks that class started and I’ve learned more about bones and how sex, height, race and age are determined. It’s been interesting to see how much information can be obtained by analyzing bones. I watched Bones Season1, episode 10 “Woman in the Airport.” Episode 10 was about human remains found in an area of LA airport. The bones of a young woman in her 20’s was found, however, Dr. Brennan is having difficulties identifying the person due to the major plastic surgery procedures the victim went through. The young girl didn’t just change her face she changed her skull which is why it was hard to identify her. The usual indicators have been modified which is difficult for the forensic artist to construct a face that would match to the original. She comes up with different possibilities of what the victim might have looked like but is asked by Dr. Brennan to make a smart estimate. The forensic artist is not comfortable with this because it means she has to guess. There are three facial variations due to cheekbone being shaved, chin being shaved and jaw reconstructed but no one knows what the victim could’ve done to her eyebrows, lips, or nose and that’s the reason why the artist came up with three different faces as possibilities.
I was surprised to learn that plastic surgery is not only modifications to of soft tissue; it also can include the alteration of bones or skull....

...Biological AnthropologyWhat is researched within Biological Anthropology?
Biological Anthropology studies the behaviours and biological variations of human beings, other primates, and extinct hominin ancestors. This subfield of anthropology provides us with a biological perspective on the variation of humans as a whole.
What are some Biological Anthropology Research Methods?
Since it is such a broad sub-discipline, the research methods tend to vary. Some biological anthropologists rely on the study of old bones and fossil records for their discoveries. They use the information gathered from the fossils to compare the variations of the past to the current primates and humans on earth. Others steer away from the study of fossils and focus more on the non-human primates, and study their behaviours, morphology and genetics. And finally, another common research method in biological anthropology is the study of behavioural adaptations from more of an evolutionary perspective. (Jaiswal, 1)
What are some specializations within Biological Anthropology?
There are a total of thirteen major divisions in biological/physical anthropology:
1. Primatology – the study of primates as a whole, determining their various development stages and life patterns to truly understand the position of humankind....